About Us

BACKGROUND

The Safe Places initiative was a City of Swift Current program which began in 2016, driven by Mayor Schafer and Council in partnership with Sheldon Kennedy’s Respect Group Inc. to establish better screening measures and raise greater awareness of the issues of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination through education. The safeguarding tool became the only program in Canada to be utilized and driven by a community.

The screening component of Safe Places was known as Safe Places certification and mandated by all youth service providers. The certification program was a platform, service and support for organizations which improved accountability and provided a baseline consistent standard of screening and education that everyone recognized in our community and throughout Southwest Saskatchewan. Over 3,000 individuals were Safe Places Certified as part of the program and our online portal made it simple for individuals to apply and also appear in the public database as certified.

Beyond the certification platform Safe Places is proud of the role we played in the development of other resources, tools and partnerships as we strived to provide more positive and safe environments for young people.

We encourage Youth and Families to explore our Online Youth BRIDGE Education program which provides support and education related to a number of different youth topics.